Page 20 of Izzy and Her Off-Limits Love

I lift an eyebrow. “He actually let you pay for it?”

“Not half what it was worth, but I didn’t want him to give it to me. When I was a kid, I always told myself that one day I’d make enough money to buy my own. So there was some symbolism behind paying for it.”

“I really love that. And I bet Dad understood, too.”

“Once I finally explained why,” Liam says. “But he grumbled a whole lot first.”

“This is going to be nice once you have everything unpacked,” I say. “It’s nice now.”

“Just sparse,” Liam says. “Mom offered to help me with decor, but … you’ve always had a good eye too, right?”

“Not as good as your mom’s, but I know my way around a Home Goods.”

My gaze catches on the fridge, which holds a bunch of photos. It’s surprising because so few things are unpacked, but as soon as I cross the room to look closer, I understand why these photos are up when nothing else is. Liam has always been an exceptional big brother. Of course he’d want his fridge covered by his family.

Well, notexactlycovered.

While my fridge looks like a scrapbook exploded on it, photos at all angles, scraps of paper with notes or phone numbers, takeout menus, and business cards—all stuck on with a random hodgepodge of magnets, Liam’s are arranged in exact lines with the most basic magnets I’ve ever seen.

I touch one of the small gunmetal gray circles holding up a picture of Liam with his mom, Camden, Ezra, and Mandy. It makes me ache for Oakley. “They’re getting so big.”

“I know,” Liam says with a nod, moving up to stand behind me. He’s close enough that I can feel the warmth of his body, and it’s all I can do not to lean back and rest against his chest.

I wonder what he would do if I did. Would he wrap his arms around me? Tug me close? Press his lips just against my collarbone?

“I’m excited to live closer so I can see them more frequently,” Liam says, his words jolting me out of my very deliciousdaydream. “I feel like I’ve missed so much, especially this past year.”

I clear my throat. We are talking about his siblings.Children.Not collarbone kisses and warm bodies. “They’ve missed you,” I say, my voice only slightly higher than normal. “I’m sure they’re glad to have you home.”

He turns and leans against the fridge, giving me a shy smile that I want to snatch up and put in my pocket. “Areyouglad to have me home?” he asks.

I press my lips together, fighting a grin. If he could read my mind, he wouldn’t have to ask me that question. “Are you fishing for compliments, Mr. Fieldstone?”

“Shamelessly,” he says without missing a beat.

I lift a hand and pat him on the chest. “You’re going to have to wait for that performance review. And now I’m factoring the comfort of my sleeping arrangements into my feedback.”

“Come on,” he says easily. “Things are in better shape back in the bedrooms. Well,bedroom,really. And then my office, which has a pullout sofa where I’ll be sleeping tonight.”

I’m following him down a short hallway as he talks, but at these words, I stop in my tracks. “Liam, you are not giving me your bed.”

He looks over his shoulder. “She says after she threatens me with a poor performance review.”

“But I was just kidding around! I’ll be fine on the couch in your office. I’m sure it’s a very comfortable couch.”

He crosses his arms over his chest. “It is. Which is why I’ll be fine sleeping on it.”

I huff. “You aren’t going to let me win this, are you?”

“Absolutely not,” he says.

I follow him into his bedroom which reallyisin better shape. His bed is made with real, actual bedding, there’s a lamp and a stack of books on his bedside table, and there are clotheshanging up in the closet, visible through the slightly open door. It looks lovely and wonderful and supremely comfortable, but I cannot fathom the reality of sleeping in here. Wearing his clothes is enough to break my brain. But being in his sheets? I am not mentally prepared for this.

“Show me the other room,” I say quickly enough for Liam to startle.

“What?”

“The other room? Can I see it?” I move toward the door and into the hallway. A few paces up, there’s a second room, and when I flip on the light, I know at once I’ve found his office.

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